Chilling note threatening violence against Debbie Collier and family revealed

Athens, Ga. — The boyfriend of murdered Georgia mom Debbie Collier’s daughter allegedly threatened violence against her entire family last year in a chilling note — and was arrested just last month for violating parole.

“If you or your family ever come near me again I will hurt them,” former amateur MMA fighter Andrew Giegerich supposedly wrote to Debbie’s daughter Amanda Bearden in a chilling note obtained by The Post. 

The handwritten message scrawled in green marker was included in police evidence photos following a May 2021 domestic dispute between Bearden and Giegerich, who were living in a home owned by her step-father, Debbie’s husband Steve. 

“Have a nice life you lying ass b—h. Don’t ever contact me again!!!” Giegerich apparently wrote in the note before making the threats.

According to police documents, Bearden claimed her boyfriend had broken into her home, screamed at her and attacked her, showing police bruises on her shoulders and arms. 

A police report reads: “In her living room, Bearden showed me a handwritten note left on a notebook. 

“She advised Giegerich wrote this before he left.”

Giegerich – who had an amateur MMA record of four wins and three losses but hasn’t fought since 2018, according to tapology.com – was arrested and hit with various charges, including battery as a result of the incident. 

Athens-Clark County police described the two as having “a family violence relationship.”

“Andrew Giegerich did intentionally cause visible bodily harm to Amanda Bearden, to wit: she had visible bruising to the right arm and shoulder,” his May 2021 arrest warrant stated. 

He was also ordered to stay away from Beardon, who was also arrested and charged at the same time for making a false police report for saying Giegerich had broken into their home when they actually lived together. Her case over the incident is still believed to be ongoing.

The same police report also quoted a man who identified himself as Beardon’s step-father, who told officers: “The violence between Bearden and the boyfriend was pretty constant over the entire time they have dated, spanning a couple of years.”

Despite the order to stay away, Bearden and Giegerich appear to be still living together in the same house, claiming they moved back from Maryland just two days before Debbie disappeared. 

Giegerich told The Post Thursday he and Bearden had their phones confiscated by police after Debbie’s death. 

“They’ve interrogated all of us. The people who are closest to [Debbie] are kind of looked at as suspects right now,” he said. 

However, it is standard police procedure to interview relatives and those who were last to see a person alive following a murder, as part of the process of eliminating them from the investigation. 

Neither Bearden or Giegerich have been named as suspects or persons of interest by the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office or Georgia Bureau of Investigation, who are jointly investigating Debbie’s death.

Giegerich did not immediately respond to a request for comment about his threatening note on Friday.

It was Bearden who initially raised the alarm and reported her mother missing after receiving a haunting Venmo payment from her on Sept 10. 

Debbie wired her daughter $2,385 with a note that said “They are not going to let me go. Love you.”

She was found dead in a ravine about 60 miles north of her Athens, Ga. home on Sept. 11, naked and partially burned according to police documents. 

Beardon and Giegerich said they had last seen Debbie the previous day when she had bought them lunch. 

Police records show Beardon and Giegerich have long had a volatile relationship. 

After the May 2021 incident, a fast track arraignment was made for him in June 2021, noting it was his “second or subsequent arrest for a family violence offence” and putting the ban on him contacting Bearden. 

However, he was charged with violating that order in September 2021 after he went to Amanda’s residence and allegedly “banged on doors and windows demanding to get inside,” according to the court documents. 

That same month, he was arrested for misdemeanor DUI, having marijuana, not wearing a seat belt, not having required tag lights and reckless driving. 

He pleaded guilty to not having the required tag lights and reckless driving, and the rest of the charges were dismissed. 

Giegerich pleaded guilty in January to the domestic violence counts against him and was sentenced to 12 months probation.

He was then arrested again for violating his parole on August 26 and ordered to serve six days in jail and to show proof he had entered a substance abuse treatment program within 20 days. 

It was not immediately clear if he served the jail time or entered treatment. 

Bearden also has a string of prior arrests, including incidents where she had argued with other boyfriends.  

In 2012 a fight with her boyfriend resulted in an arrest for battery, but she later pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of disorderly conduct in November 2012, earning her 12 months’ probation, an order to take anger management courses and to have no contact with that boyfriend.

In 2013, Bearden, then 27, broke probation after she “attempted to provide a fraudulent sample” to a drug test lab and was sentenced to 30 days in the local jail. It is unclear how much time she spent in confinement.

Police say they have categorized Debbie’s death as a homicide and have ruled out both kidnapping and suicide.